The Adventures of Shem and Seraphina
by FpNitecrawler
Summary: This is a story based on a character that I created. The story is based in a world that is entirely of my own creation, any likeness to the characters or places mentioned in my world are strictly coincidental.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1  
  
It had been a bad day, a really bad day. For one particular Bugbear, disowned by his clan, the day was just going to get worse. The really bad thing was that he didn't even see it coming.  
  
The city was named Windworn, the tavern was named the Golden Eagle. He had traveled from the swamps of Dracon Lake to the far west. A fight with his father, the King of the Iron-Claw Clan, had resulted in his exile. He traveled to Windworn hoping for acceptance, for a warm, passionate welcome. He got neither.  
  
The tavern was incredibly crowded when he walked in, and he drew more than his fair share of looks from the patrons. He worked his way through the crowd and up to the bar.  
  
"What'll you have, ugly?" The dwarf behind the counter asked.  
  
The Bugbear snarled at him. "Just give me a mug of ale."  
  
"You show me some coinage first." The dwarf said, leaning across the counter.  
  
The Bugbear reached into his belt pouch. A cross look suddenly came over his face. "My coin's are gone.." He murmured.  
  
"Looks like someone's not getting a drink after all." The dwarf said as he removed the mug from the counter.  
  
Discouraged, the Bugbear looked around the crowded Tavern. The first person that he noticed was a small female Halfling sitting at the bar next to him.  
  
"What are you looking at?" He snarled.  
  
The Halfling squinted her eyes and leaned in closer to the Bugbear for a closer look. "I don't know.." She said. "But it's ugly!" She said and crinkled her nose. She leaned back and signaled to the dwarf behind the bar for another drink.  
  
She never saw it coming. All of a sudden, the Bugbear caught her with a backhand that lifted her off her seat and threw her across the Tavern. She landed on a table and eloquently rolled backward off the table landing on her feet. By the time her feet touched the ground she had already unsheathed two daggers from her belt and had them ready.  
  
"I don't know what the hell your problem is, buddy, but you are about to pay for it." She yelled at the Bugbear. "Dearly."  
  
"You took my Gold!!!" Roared the Bugbear. He started throwing tables out of the way in an attempt to get to this pesky Halfling. "It was in my pouch right before I sat down!"  
  
"You're not only ugly, but you are stupid as well!" She flicked her wrist and a dagger flew through the air and found it's mark in the bugbear's leg. He let out a howl of pain and dropped to one knee. "I'm telling you that I didn't take your gold. I'm also warning you to return to your seat or leave this Tavern, the choice is yours."  
  
The Bugbear pulled the dagger out of his leg and threw it to the side, hitting a Kobold right in the chest, accidentally. He drew his axe and continued advancing toward the Halfling. As he drew his axe, the Halfling exchanged her dagger for a small steel shield on her back and the short sword that was at her side. As the Bugbear advanced, the center of the room cleared and it was just the Bugbear and the Halfling. The Bugbear struck first with an upward swing of his axe, which the Halfling blocked effortlessly with her shield. What she couldn't block however was the left cross that caught her square on the chin and spun her around. She staggered backward and fell over a chair. Her sword and shield slid across the floor and disappeared into the crowd. That was the least of her worries, though, as she was now dazed, confused, and had a very angry Bugbear bearing down on her.  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Chapter 2 Shem meets Seraphina

Chapter 2  
  
He couldn't quite see what was going on. Shem Whistler had been relieving himself in the water closet when the commotion started. By the time he got his armor situated again and gotten himself straightened out, there was already a thick crowd gathered around an opening in the center of the room. He had tried to make his way through the crowd, and the fact that he was only a little over three feet tall helped a lot. When he finally emerged from the crowd he saw an extremely ugly creature bearing down on a nearly unconscious female Halfling in leather armor. To Shem, it didn't look like she had any weapons.  
  
He started making the gestures with his hands and started murmuring words and suddenly the Bugbear flew up in the air and fell flat on his back, sliding into an upturned table. He cast another spell and the Axe that the Bugbear had been using flew across the opening and came to a stop in front of the Dwarven Bartender who had just now gotten through the crowd and was trying to get the fight stopped, without getting physically involved in it. He reached down and picked up the axe. When Shem turned his attention back to the Bugbear, he saw the female Halfling was now on her feet. From somewhere she had found a short sword and was not standing two feet away from the fallen Bugbear. The Bugbear started to get up, rubbing his head. She was holding her Short Sword at the ready, and Shem saw blood coming from her nose and mouth. He realized too late what she was preparing to do. With a spin to add momentum to her swing, her sword came across the Bugbear's throat. Blood fountained out of the cut and the Bugbear clutched his throat as he collapsed to the ground.  
  
The female Halfling wiped the blood off of her sword with the Bugbear's shirt, then she proceded to take the Bugbear's tribal necklace that he wore from around his neck. She crossed the floor to where Shem stood.  
  
She held out her hand to shake. "Thanks for the help." She said almost casually. "I think I would have been fine without you, but thanks just the same."  
  
Shem just stood there and looked at her out-reached hand. "Just tell me one thing.. Did I help the good guy or the bad guy?" Shem said, looking from her to the fallen Bugbear.  
  
"Well, actually..." She began looking him over. She looked him up and down and recognized the way he dressed as being one who practiced a roguish art. "Can I tell ya a secret?"  
  
He gave her a quizzical look and nodded his head. She leaned in close to his ear. "I know who stole his gold, which is what he accused me of doing." She whispered as she patted her pocket to make it jingle. "How would you like a drink?"  
  
"So I helped the bad guy?" Shem said in surprise. "Why'd you have to kill him?"  
"He attacked me first, all I did was defend myself." She said. "I'm not a bad person, his coins were falling out on the way in, I just helped them along. He didn't need to attack me. Trust me, he had no proof that I was the one that took his gold. Now how about that drink?"  
  
The crowd had started dispersing and the dwarf had a couple of people that worked in the Tavern cleaning up the mess.  
  
"Don't forget about the Kobold!" He yelled at the men from across the room. He looked around and took extreme satisfaction in seeing that upon the death of their companion the other kobolds had left. He preferred that they stay gone, too. The never did buy anything unless they won a couple of hands of Wingback, which was rare.  
  
He took the axe that had belonged to the bugbear over to a chest underneath the bar. Big, bold letters read "Auction Material" on the top. He unlocked it and popped it open. He smiled to himself as he looked inside and saw all the different things the chest held. Someone died in this Tavern about once a week, and he always claimed the belongings. The annual auctions that he held made him a fortune.  
  
"Getting close to auction time, isn't it, Griswold?"  
  
The voice startled him, he looked up and was relieved to see Shem leaning over the bar. "Aye, Shem, my boy, it is at that!" Griswold said and shut and locked the chest. "What can I get you and your most worthy companion?"  
  
"Give me the grincher ale, and for you?" he turned to the female Halfling.  
  
"I'll have water. I think after that fight, if I drink anything else, I'll just want to fight again." She smiled at the bartender.  
  
"In that case, I'll be more than happy to give ya water, missy." Gris turned to start fixing the drinks, letting out a dwarven chuckle as he did so.  
  
Shem turned to his companion for the moment and said: "So, do you have a name?"  
  
"Seraphina Greenbottle, and you?"  
  
"Shem Whistler of the Katithine Thieves Guild." He said proudly. "Greenbottle, that sounds Elven, am I right?" Shem watched as her face went from jovial to an expression of rage.  
  
"If you were going to insult me, why even bother to sit and have a drink with me in the first place?!" She said as she threw her pack on her back and started to get up.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, really!" Shem said to her back as she walked out of the Golden Eagle Tavern. He sighed to himself as the door shut behind her.  
  
Griswold turned around and regarded Shem with a nod. "Having your way with the ladies as usual, I see."  
  
"How was it that I insulted her, Gris?"  
  
"Well, my boy, let's just say that I'd be terribly insulted if you suggested that my family name was elven, too. Maybe she just doesn't like the skinny twig-lovers! Nothing wrong with that!"  
  
Shem laughed. "I should have known better than to ask a dwarf."  
  
"Always here to give my advice, here's your drink." Gris handed him his Ale.  
  
"You know what, Gris? I think I'm going to call it a night. Give it to that lovely dwarven woman at the end of the bar. Tell her it's on the house." Shem smiled and got up and laid a silver piece on the counter.  
  
"Hey, Shem!" Gris yelled stopping him at the door. "She'll be back, buddy!"  
  
"Why do you say that?" Shem asked.  
  
"Because it may have been something you said that ran her off, but something else you said will also bring her back!"  
  
Shem left the Golden Eagle Tavern with that very thought on his mind.  
  
To be Continued.. 


	3. Chapter 3 Uninvited Guest

Chapter 3  
  
Seraphina left the Golden Eagle and headed across town toward the most luxurious Inn she could think of. She opened up her coin pouch and glanced inside. She still couldn't believe the amount of gold the bugbear had on him. She now had her pouch full of gold. With all the noise in the tavern it had been easy to cut out the bottom of his belt pouch and just watch all the coins drop into her pouch.  
  
She entered the inn and approached the desk. As she approached she noticed the door to the right of the desk that read "Weapons Closet". The door had a large ornate lock on it, and she figured that patrons were required to check in any weapons before aquiring a room. She quickly moved one of her daggers into the secret slot in the back of her armor.  
  
"Hello! And welcome to the luxurious Windworn Inn! What kind of room can I get for you?" The elven woman behind the desk asked.  
  
"What is the most luxurious room that you have?" Seraphina tried not to sound like she was talking down to the elven woman, but wasn't sure if she was succeeding or not.  
  
The hostess was taken aback by her words and Seraphina realized that she had failed in her task. "Well," she started to say a little less cordially, "We have the King's Suite, which is a two bedroom suite, but there's a catch."  
  
"And the catch is.." Seraphina prompted impatiently. Why did Elves always think they were better than everyone else?  
  
"There's been a problem with that room, recently. A problem with someone breaking in and stealing the belongings of the patrons in that room." The elf was making it a point to keep her voice low. "And no matter what we do, we can never catch the person."  
  
"I'll tell ya what. You let me have the room for free for one night and I'll give you my personal guarantee that I will catch the person whose breaking into that room. If I am unsuccessful, then I will pay you double for the room."  
  
The elven woman pondered the proposal for a minute. "You would have to put the double cost of four gold pieces with me for the night if I am to trust you, no offense."  
  
"That's fair, and when I bring this 'rogue' to justice, I'll come down and collect my money back." Seraphina handed the woman four gold pieces.  
  
Still hesitant, the elven woman handed the room key to Seraphina. "Have a nice night." She said.  
  
Seraphina went up the stairs to the left of the desk after depositing her shield, short sword, and daggers (all except the one in her armor) at the desk. She opened the door to her room and stepped in. She was immediately in shock as to how enormous and beautiful the room was. She may hate elves in general, but she had to admit, they knew how to decorate. There was an elegant tub in the center of the room. A bedroom branched off to the left and right of the main quarters, and a makeshift kitchen was along the left wall. There was a water closet set in the right wall. She plopped down on the seat in the corner and threw her pack up on the table. She dumped out her coin purse and started counting how much money she had.  
  
"57 Gold pieces, 13 Silver, and ten Copper." She said to noone in particular. She scooped up the coins and put them back in her coin purse. She then went to each of the windows and rigged up a very simple yet effective fire trap to each of the windows. The trap included pieces of rope, and empty flasks of what used to be Alchemist's Fire. When the window is opened, it pulls the rope and the flasks drop and shatter, thus catching the intruder off guard and alerting her to the whereabouts of the intruder. She hoped that this plan would work.  
  
Feeling satisfied with the rigging of the windows, she got undressed and sank into the spa in the center of the room. No sooner was she completely relaxed, when there was a knock at the door.  
  
"This is a really bad time for room service!" She yelled to the person at the front door. There was silence after that, and she continued to relax. About ten minutes later, there was another knock at the door. Reluctantly, she got out of the spa, wrapped a towel around her and went to the door. She reached for the door handle, just as the knocking started again and she flung the door open in mid-knock.  
  
"WHAT?!" She said as the door came open. She was completely caught off guard when she realized that there was nobody on the other side of her door. She peeked out into the hallway. There was nobody in both directions. Puzzled, she shut the door and waited to see if the knocking happened again. When it didn't, she went to the master bedroom and crawled into bed.  
  
She was surprised when she woke up the next morning. She had purposely slept lightly so that any kind of disturbance would have woke her up. Cursing herself for being so cocky as to wager paying double for the room if she didn't catch the burglar, she got up and went to check the windows. All of the traps that she had set were still intact in the main room. She crossed the main room to the secondary bedroom, and was nearly scared out of her wits when she came across a male gnome tied up in front of the window of this bedroom. Her pouch of gold was lying at his feet. She looked at the window, the trap had been disarmed, which was impossible to do from the outside. Seraphina knew there was no way the burglar got in through the window. She searched the Gnome, who was trying to speak through his gag, but Seraphina ignored it. She found spell reagents on him, and a scroll pouch with three scrolls of invisibility inside it. Then she remembered the knocking the night before and nobody being at the door when she answered it, and it all started to make sense. All except for one thing.  
  
She picked up her coin pouch and opened it up. It looked as if all her gold was there, she dumped it all out on the table and counted it. She found a note inside the pouch also, but ignored it until she finished counting her gold. There was now 53 Gold pieces instead of 57. Exactly the amount it would have cost her to pay the double cost on the room. She turned her attention to the note. She unfolded it and read it:  
  
Your Welcome  
  
?  
  
That was all the letter said. She recognized the symbol to be that of the Katithine Thieves Guild and immediately knew who had captured the gnome. Now she had to think of where in town she could find Mr. Whistler on a day like this. A smile crept across her face, and she headed downstairs to get the authorities to come arrest the gnome and to collect her four gold from the lady behind the counter.  
  
To be Continued... 


End file.
